Chest Hair and New MySpace Photo

I have a dislike for stray hairs. I not only dislike them on myself, but as much on other people. Every once in a while Justin'll have a random ear hair or one of his goatee hairs sticks straight out and I have to yank it. He gets pretty angry and pissy and cryey and I tell him to look in a mirror once in a while and be thankful he has a wife who cares about things like that...BECAUSE he has commented on mega ear hair and whatnot on other people---men AND women.

It's maybe a double-standard that I can overlook (kind of) a stray facial hair on a man WAaaaayyy more than I can on a woman. Today at church there was a woman with beautiful long dark hair. During worship she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, revealing mega sideburns-----porkchops. It sort of caught me by surprise and I asked God to forgive me for judging and begged the Holy Spirit to help me focus. I've never been quite so happy to be blonde and fair-haired/skinned.

This situation reminded my of my first encounter with strange female hair "issues" as a child.

In 2nd grade my mom signed us all up for swimming lessons. Our instructor was actually my teacher from the prior school year. I was excited and instantly put at ease. I wanted to please her and show her that I was brave and ready to learn. On the inside I was totally scared of learning to swim and freaked out by water over my head. So I learned to hold my breath and clutched the side of the pool as we took turns trying the front and back float with her supporting us underneath. As I watched her lean over, holding one of the other kids, I could see down the front of her swimsuit. What I saw shocked me and has frightened me to this day. Of course, I saw boobs. At that age I had seen my mom dress plenty of times and was probably starting to sprout my own. However, on those breasts, I saw a crop of long, black, curly, coarse HAIR. I'm not talking a stray hair or 2 or even 4 or 8. I thought there was a black baby hiding down the front of her suit.

Scarred.

It's SO on! I think the above photo will be our next MySpace pic!

Below are my brother's last couple shots.

Who shall win?!?!

Justin & I, my brother, and another friend are having a "competition" on Myspace to find the strangest profile photos. It has gotten pretty funny.

Currently Cody has a photo of Radio and my brother has a strange looking male.
This is our current myspace photo.

I think it's male, but am not for sure.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

It's Justin's 29th birthday today. He's a young pup and I robbed the cradle. I always dated men MUCH older than I, until I met Justin. He still teases me about having geriatric wet dreams and says I'm never allowed to work in a nursing home.
Having a birthday on a Tuesday is a bummer. I tried to get some of our friends together and they all are busy or flat out didn't respond. Nice. So it might just be the 2 of us going out for dinner and maybe light bulb shopping after that. Maddie'll stay with Ana and we'll be home and in bed asleep by 10 pm.
I'm ultra-pumped because MY birthday is on a Saturday this year!
Justin came home for lunch today and I made some wild rice and a new kind of veggie burger. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRROooooooossssyuuuuuukkkkkk! It was a bag of this veggie/protein/fiber stuff that you put with boiling water and let sit. Then form it into patties and cook 'er up! They are not tasty. Of course Madeline liked them. I served Justin's on some Ezekiel bread w/ketchup and spicy mustard and spicy cheese and spicy air on a spicy plate and it still was pretty raunch. Thankfully the wild rice and yogurt were available! But we know what Maddie gets for dinner tonight while we are having pizza and beer!

********************************************************************************

This weekend we had Jeremy and Renee's wedding reception down South. After 5 hours of driving we were totally ready for the brew tour and socializing afterward. It was super cold out and put a bit of a damper on festivities, but not too much.
The saturday reception was at this ballroom in downtown New Ulm and of course my camera batteries crapped out after taking 2 pictures of my brother during the talent show! BOoo!
The ballroom was this place that looked like it was from the '20's. Very cool. Tons of our relatives were there and we did loads of dancing and I'm still a little sore today actually. I wore monster heals alllll night and atrophied my calves and quads. I wish I could fully explain the fun that we have with some of my cousins when we get together playin "The Dare Game." It's totally wonderful for us, but dangerous for anyone else around.
It started with 13 year old Crystal trying to convince Jeremy and Renee that she was angry with her step mom and needed to sleep in their hotel room for the rest of the weekend. SHe was a true champ and totally convinced them, even though they said NO WAY.
Cousin Shelly had to go to the DJ and rub her hands all over herself and beg him to play something "dirty."
Ben had to put his tie around his head like a bandana and grap 2 sticks from one of the centerpieces and walk around "knighting" 6 people.
Justin had to escort a folding chair to the middle of the dance floor and dirty dance with it.
I had to pretend like I was leading an aerobics class in the middle of a group of people on the dance floor.
etc. etc. etc.
Stupid, fun, and most everytime we are together this crap takes place. I think Ben and I started it many years ago while camping. A bunch of us were around the bonfire and I dared him to go sit on the ground next to the fire and do 5 sit-ups and then go sit back down and not say anything to anyone. Whatever. Stooooopid, but if you knew my family you'd so be in on it.

Tomorrow is my parents' 31st wedding anniversary! Holy moly! Pretty much they can't stand eachother anymore, but maybe that's what happens when your life revolves around your kids for 31 years? When they grow up and leave, then you wonder who the hell that other person is sitting across the table from you? Sad kind of.

HAPPY EASTER!

Seriously Awesome?

Every so often I get a wild hair to try a new recipe or a healthier version of something I really like. I've adapted encheladas to be super healthy and today found a recipe for black bean brownies! Why not?

They just came out of the oven 7 minutes ago and I took a tiny corner bite and they are rockin! I called husband to tell him what I was making and I think he gagged. I want to call my friend Jen and tell her, cuz I'm so pumped, but they are probably right in the middle of sitting down to dinner.

Jen----they are good!

I used 1 c of brown sugar and 1 c of white, instead of 2 c of while. I was going to sub honey for some of the sugar but realized I was almost out. I would've used some whole wheat flour instead of white, but it only calls for 2/3 c. of flour anyway and I'm running low on wheat and I still have to bake bread for my mom's birthday gift tomorrow.

I threw in some white chocolate chips and I think we have a winner.

A few weeks ago I made some vegan oatmeal peanut butter cookies, that used tofu and soy milk instead of eggs and they were awesome. I used applesauce instead of oil and honey in place of half the sugar. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I'll find the link to that recipe and post it. I have it around here somewhere.

Do any of ya'll have any stellar healthy recipes? I'd love to hear 'em!

Interesting and Sad!

A man committed suicide in his automobile recently. His wife was going to take their children and leave him. He decided he couldn't live that way and in an apparent rage left his home with a shotgun and drove on some country roads, damaging his truck and eventually stopped to shoot himself in the head.

The insurance claim(s) for the vehicle ended up in Justin's office and it has been very interesting to hear the process of handling such a tragic event. Fatality claims happen now and again, but this is not a regular happening by any stretch. Plus, we live in such a damn small world that I found out the man who died was a friend of my uncle, who lives in Minneapolis.

Yesterday the deputy who was involved in locating the vehicle stated that it was a terrible mess and they threw a tarp over the vehicle so that the tow truck driver wouldn't have to see the inside of the truck. Of course, Justin wants to be the one to inspect the vehicle all the more!

I don't know if he could handle that though. He's a major gagger and I'm afraid seeing a cab filled with blood and brains would have a bit of an affect on him. Ya think?

Suicide is icky. My dad's dad killed himself when my dad was a young boy. His mother (my dad's grandma) killed herself too. I wonder what takes hold of people and makes them feel THAT hopeless? I think that people who committ suicide are not in their right minds and something just snaps I suppose.

Anyway, who has the Easter Bunny coming to their house?

Happy St. Pat's Day!

It's snowing like crrrrrazy here, but no accumulation...YET. Hopefully the ground will stay warm enough to continue melting the crud falling from the sky. I'm a lot burnt out on winter. Although, having to shovel sidewalks in 30 degree weather isn't the worst thing I suppose.

Is everyone celebrating today? Drinking Guiness and wearing green? Aren't you supposed to pinch people if they don't have an article of green clothing on today?

I admit to not wearing a smidge of green today; not in protest or anything, I just don't see anyone really during my day that is coherent enough to know their own name, much less what day it is. I made some brown Irish soda bread---a wheat version of the regular and a dumplingish stew for dinner tonight. Given the snow, I think it'll go over fairly well.

This weekend we head south for my cousin's wedding. Friday night a bunch of us are going to tour the Schell brewery. I'm super pumped to have a weekend away from home and my daughter. We are FINALLY all well for the most part and I'm afraid I'm jinxing that by simply mentioning it! After we return we'll celebrate Justin's birthday and his parents will arrive from Kansas, as they do every year at this time to shower him with gifts and stress us (me) out.

I don't know why I thought I'd come on here and write. I don't have a damn thing to say really. I'm turning into a booooorrrrrriiiiinnnnnggggg person.

What's everyone else up to today?
Tell me! I'm genuinely interested!

TGIF

This has been the longest week of my life. Well, probably not of my life, but it felt like it dragged on and on and onnnnnnnnnnn.

Tonight some people from Justin's office are coming over for dinner and drinks. Our nanny is having Maddie at her house for a few hours while we entertain. I'm actually looking forward to the festivities. I used to work in this office when Justin was in grad. school and they are great people! I was busy this morning assembling a variety of Mexican dishes, cleaning house and trying to entertain my little one.

Does anyone out there watch "Little House on the Prairie" on tv or dvd/video? Since our cable downgrade, one of our afternoon pleasures has been 2:00 pm Little House on Hallmark Channel. I could watch it all day, everyday for the rest of my life and still never tire. Can you imagine being alive back then? What's the hardest job any of ya'll has had? I'm very interested.
My hardest job was probably during college--working summers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a canoe outfitter. We worked 6 days a week, 12 hour days. There were no phones or tv or internet or anything like that. We were 55 miles from the nearest town, which wasn't saying much. I did that for 3 summers and the owners are now like my second parents. It was SO hard, but one of the most character shaping times of my life.

Ok, I should get back to things. Laura just got in trouble because Mr. Edwards was teaching her how to spit. How do you spit?

It's Monday and our babysitter called in sick and I don't mind. Madeline has been glued to my side all morning and I'm glad I can be here for her.



Last night I was trying to organize our home videos and figure out what was actually on what tapes and lable the cases and bla bla bla. It made me happy and sad to see how much our life/lives have changed in the last few years. Justin's graduate school commencement was on one of the tapes and though there was more footage of funny-looking people than of the actual commencement I forgot how proud I was of him for all that he accomplished on that day.



Then there were clips of Madeline and I in the hospital from when she was born and more footage from our time living in Minneapolis, when life was much more simple and we didn't have much of anything. Sometimes I wonder if having more money is worth all of the headache.

Anyway, my pity party has ended. I'm feeling loads better---my head has mostly cleared up and I'm on the mend. Thank you for your support and prayers! I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends and an incredible church community. It's been overwhelming--in a good way. So I was way further in this post and Madeline was wrestling me with the laptop and slammed it shut and I lost a couple paragraphs and don't feel like retyping. I called Justin and asked if there was a way to change the settings so the computer doesn't auto-shutdown just from closing the latptop and he just laughed at me. I hate technology and he thinks I'm completely ridiculous.

If it were up to me, I'd be penpals with ya'll and we'd send REAL letters every few days through snail mail and I'd be happy as hell! Why don't people write letters anymore? Do any of you?

Has spring sprung where any of you live? Not here yet. As Mike said yesterday, maybe the groundhog died? It's not really an issue of seeing his shadow or not, he just crapped out and froze to death. When I checked the temp at mid-morning it was 16 degrees F. F is right!
I think Farenheit is german for a curse word about it being so cold. Whatever, that was lame.

Mr. Rogers is on and they are playing guitar to a lady in the land of make believe. Trolley is having problems going to sleep, so she's trying to help him. How nice.

Ooooohhh, it was Lady Elaine! She didn't knock on the tree before coming in and someone was upset. Ahhh, the trials and tribulations of life.

Why does my body hate me?

I spent nearly 6 weeks trying to get over pneumonia and was mostly well (aside from coughing once in a while), now I have a rotten head cold and some flu symptoms (low grade fever, achy, tired). My eyes feel like they are on fire--watery and burning. My nose won't stop running, but it's totally plugged up at the same time.

The temp outside has still been in the single digits and I'm feeling totally "cagey" (cabin fever, but more prison-like).

I'm somewhat prone to depression, but don't show it to most people. Times like these don't exactly help.

Our church is starting Life Transformation Groups and I'm curious to see how that will pan out. Justin has been in one for a couple months now and more than anything I find myself jealous of him because he gets to go out. Sad, I know. But try having a little human crying at your legs for no reason and your husband comes home from work and eats a meal you worked hard to prepare and doesn't say thanks until you prompt him to and then leaves right away to go to this group, leaving you sick and with the crying little human again.

Lord, help me to be supportive and selfless, instead of jealous and selfish.

We are doing some technology downgrading. With spring approaching and our family time being so limited, we find we waste (?) more time than we should on the internet and watching totally useless things on television. We've decided to get rid of our wireless internet and go down to the most basic cable package available.

Though we'll check on here occasionally, it won't be nearly as often as it was. If you need us, we'll still have a phone! To our favorite blogs: Justin still has internet at work and will relay my most favorites to me (you know who you are). Plus, some of you live just a hop skip and jump away...so come on over!

Take care ya'll, and don't be strangers!

Love, Justin & Stacey(and Maddie too I suppose)

I have some updating about the last few days, but I only have a minute to write.

The concert that Justin and I went to at the casino last night takes priority at this moment.

Air Supply was playing! I can only name a handful of songs, but since we live in the middle of nowhere entertainment is a commodity and my parents offered to take our daughter for the weekend....

I was trying to find some radical pictures of the Russells (Graham Russell and Russell Hitchock) when I found a blog entry someone had written last summer. It includes pictures and video and recaps our evening last night to a T! The only thing better was that we saw Russell Hitchock french kiss a woman in the crowd when they were going around singing and posing for pictures!

Totally awesome! PLEASE check this out!

p.s.
When I say "awesome" I don't really mean AWESOME! I mean awesome in a gaggy sort of way.

What in the heck?!

Around 7:30 this evening our clinic's phone number showed up on our caller ID. Strange, but I thought maybe Madeline's pediatrician was following up because of a call I placed earlier today (Maddie's broken out in some hive-like full body rash). It ended up being MY doctor. She asked how I was doing, then said she was calling to discuss my lab results from my physical last Friday. Everything appears ok, she had some modifications of my current vitamin supplement regimine/regime (?). Then she says, "by the way, when you were here, did we do a papsmear?"

HUH?

Somewhat caught off guard I respond, "well, I'm not sure if a papsmear is a routine part of a pelvic exam, but you were doing something in my business that I assumed was a papsmear."

She proceeds to say that she knew that and apparently she and the stand-in nurse who "roomed me" that day kept saying I did not have a papsmear and my "smear" seems to have grown legs or maybe already had something with legs in it and gone far away OR it might still be on it's way to Fargo, where the testing is done.

Awesome. Totally awesome.

After further discussion we agreed that she would have my name flagged in the computer system and if the "swab" was tracked down she'd let me know. If it wasn't, I'd need to go back to the clinic and have it redone, of course at no charge. Ya think?

What's even more interesting is the day I actually had the physical, I had to go back because the lab farcked up and misplaced/damaged my blood and had to totally redraw everything.

Am I on a screwy episode of Candid Camera? It's almost like I didn't even go that morning. Maybe I didn't?

Maybe God thinks I need to be inconvenienced some more and have ANOTHER pointless visit to the doctor.

Where the hell do I live????

Sunday night and husband and Madeline and I are being lazy, with the Oscars on in the background. Miley Cyrus just came out as a presenter. How in the heck does she get to do that?
I suppose she paid her way to the podium. Justin said that once she reaches puberty nobody will care about her. I don't care about her now.

Our home is still overrun with sickness. Madeline has pneumonia too now. She and I went to Wadena to stay with my parents last week. She and I have had to go back to the doctor repeatedly for antibioti changes and because we live in the middle of friggen nowhere the pharmacy (every pharmacy within 100 miles actually) is out of one of Madeline's prescriptions. How ridiculous is that?

I thought she was really improving but then today she barfed 2x at a baptism party and once more on the way home. Awesome.

Justin now says he is starting to feel ill. Tight chest and coughing and achey arms. I don't recall having achey arms....is achey ey or just achy? I think achy now that I look at it.

I'm starting to get really ticked because the cursor keeps relocating!!!! AHH!~ I'm all busy body typing and all of a sudden my words are up in the middle of paragraph one!
I'm even keeping my fat sausage-like thumbs off of the mousepad.

Go to bed.

I feel like I'm escorting my daughter through hell.

She has been coughing her heart out all weekend. These aren't just a kid with a cough coughs. She can't breathe, her eyes water, her face turns bright red, and eventually "stuff" comes out of her mouth and into our hands or on her person. Justin thought the stuff was clear, but after examining a fresh batch on the bed sheet an hour ago, it appears to be yellow/green/brown.
I think that's not good. She hasn't had any increase in body temp, unless you count rectal temp of 99. In my nonmedical degree, that's not actually an elevated temperature.

Justin has called the nurse line and every parent in Northern Minnesota is calling with the same issues. Soooooo, do I take her back to the doctor today? This cough is completely keeping her from her normal activities (she's 16 months--what the heck activities could she possibly be missing?) and TOTALLY keeping her from rest and any normal sleep. When I say HER I mean ALL OF US. I'm a baby kind of because I'm still not feeling 100 percent. While I feel TONS better than before, I have crazy coughing fits of non-breathing and the inhaler that I rec'd at one of my earlier visits that used to burn when I used it has now come in handy. I'm a bad mother. It's apparent that in taking care of my daughter when I was sick, I coughed alllllllll over her poor lil body and infected her.

I know that if an illness is viral there is nothing they can do for you. My question is: how exactly can they make that determination?? This viral shit is a wild wild beast! It scares me kind of.
I hate feeling this helpless.

Anyone have a spare bottle of baby antibiotics sitting around they could fax me?

My daughter makes a liar of me...again!

I had to take Madeline to the pediatrician today because of yucky cough and pulling at her ears and crying and all that cool stuff. As soon as I took her out of the Jeep at the clinic parking lot she looked like a ray of sunshine and never coughed once the entire time we were in the building. Doc examined her ears, throat, and lungs and everything looked perfect. Awesome.
Not that I wanted anything to be wrong with her, but I always feel like an idiot when I take her in for anything other than a simple check-up.

Husband was supposed to come along and help but more important things came up I guess. I'm feeling crummy today and a bit underappreciated and taken for granted (is there a difference between the two?)

Lord give me a patience with my daughter and husband....RIGHT NOW!

So, around Christmas time my brother was coming out of his part-time second job at a gym, which is next door to a beauty school or shop or something and saw 6 or 8 mannequin (Sp? i'm too lazy to look) heads in a dumpster. With Jesus' birthday around the corner and all, he rescued the lovely ladies and threw them in his trunk. My family plays spoons and dice for totally ridiculously stoooopid "gifts" and these heads are exactly perfect.

Before they ever made their way to a holiday celebration, my brother put his g/f's sunglasses and winter hat on "Debra" and set her on the landing of their townhome and scared the heck out of her. Then Debra spent the night in the bathroom waiting for my brother's early morning shower--another scare. After another few pranks in the freezer and the microwave she made her way up north to Christmas. She's been passed around and scared us all a few times.

When we went on our vacation at the beginning of January, I was a moron and got some braids at one of our stops in Mexico. As I was exiting, Justin had me pose for this picture with Debra's cousins. Neat, huh?

****************************************************************

So it's VD. I've never been all that big on VD. I'm a nerd that buys cards and crap for people for no apparent reason year round, so I don't feel all that compelled to do so on a day that everyone else in the universe is doing the same thing.
Some of it may have to do with the fact that I was single every VD until I was engaged to my now favorite husband.

Ack, ya know, I don't feel like writing about anything really. We have had a crappy couple days here. I suspect people are feeling a little tired of winter and they start complaining about every miserable thing they can think of and assume I care because I am getting paid and forced to listen to them. Truth be told, I often DO care and am a fantastic listener. I just can't stand drama and people who thrive on it.

I wish I had something smart and funny to end with. Husband and I are going out for a late dinner and will probably do some analyzation of the last few days. What did we learn? etc. etc.

I'd appreciate any and all motivational comments.

I'm guilty of feeling sorry for myself and thinking not very nice thoughts.
Mad and bitchy are words I would use to describe myself at the moment.
Why can't people just be perfect, like me? I say that somewhat sarcastically, but, sadly, not as much as I should.

My brother and I were discussing the other day, the horrible mentality curse we have. "If you want something done right, then you better do it yourself."
We were raised under expectations that weren't so ridiculous, just not the same as most people.

1. If you see something needs to be done, or know it will need to be eventually, DO IT; don't wait to be told to do so and do not wait and see if someone else will do it.

2. Don't halfass things you do. It reflects way too much on your character to sluff your way through life. Take pride in doing a job well done, even if you don't enjoy it.

3. If you say you're going to do something, you better do it. No exceptions.

4. Always tell the truth. Simple enough? Not as easy as you'd think.

5. Take care of your shit. This applies to a lot of things. When we were kids, it meant to take care of your toys. If we left our toys laying about or were careless with them--not cool. When we got our driver's license, my dad constantly lectured the importance of vehicle maintenance. "Checking your oil is the cheapest insurance you have!" This even applies to people believe it or not. Though my parents were tough sometimes, and didn't have a lot of money, we never doubted how much we were cared for. Our home was the most secure place in the neighborhood and still is. My mom was a badass mom and my dad was the strongest, best providing dad ever. I never felt scared or worried about anything.

Now I'm a grownup and at the moment feel like my parents did me a disservice in a way. Brother and I remarked at how often people disappoint us in just being themselves. We agree you can't hold it against them too much, but it hurts in a sad, nostalgic---yearning for familiarity kind of way.

I want my daughter to live by these guidelines (among others of course). I always thought everyone did, that they were common sense. That is the furthest thing from the truth.

Where did my parents go right and everyone else go wrong? Am I way off base and need to have my ass kicked off the high horse? Probably. If I could erase stuff then I wouldn't be so irritated and disappointed so often.

Most of the time this all doesn't bother me. In being so sick the last few weeks and seeing such slow improvement, unable to handle everything I usually take care of----it's become a bad, bad state of affairs in my head.

I want my mommy.

Up way too early--have been for a while, recovering from coughing fit. blah.

The snow has begun falling and I'm happy I don't have to go anywhere this weekend.

What are people's thoughts out there on infomercials? Do you ever watch them? Ever bought anything? Have some favorites? I'm doing a little research.